Johnny Football could have been Johnny Junior College

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel is a Heisman Trophy winner and the school's new sensation, i.e., a moneymaker.

Photo: Associated Press

COLLEGE STATION — Johnny Manziel, NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year, doesn't have quite the same ring as, “Johnny Manziel, Heisman Trophy winner.”

The less well-known junior-college honor, however, is the one Manziel might have competed for last fall, had his previously-undisclosed suspension by Texas A&M last summer not been overturned by the Aggies' dean of student life, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

And A&M, had it upheld the suspension, would've missed out on a huge windfall, estimated at a quarter of a billion dollars, resulting from Manziel's Heisman, which he won last December in leading the Aggies to an 11-2 record in their first year in the Southeastern Conference.

Late last June, Manziel was arrested in the College Station bar district of Northgate on charges of fighting, failing to identify himself and possessing two fake driver's licenses.

The university suspended him for the 2012 football season based on the arrest, according to the insider, and Manziel chose to appeal.

Manziel declined comment through a spokesman, but Texas Monthly released details Wednesday night of an interview with Manziel and his family for an upcoming issue.

“When you get in trouble, a school disciplinary board reprimands you,” Manziel told the magazine. “They pretty much prosecuted me off the story in the Bryan newspaper. They banned me from athletics and from my scholarships. I had worked hard, and done everything coach (Kevin) Sumlin asked me to do, and then they told me I couldn't play anymore.”

At the time, the former Kerrville Tivy standout was a freshman fighting for a starting job with then-sophomore Jameill Showers.

Midway through training camp in mid-August, Manziel received word the suspension had been overturned, and the next day he was named the Aggies' starting quarterback, the insider said.

Had the suspension not been overturned Manziel intended to transfer to a junior college, the insider said, in search of immediate playing time after having already redshirted the previous season under then-A&M coach Mike Sherman.

The rest is A&M lore.

Manziel became the first freshman to win the Heisman, and set the SEC record for total yards in a single-season with 5,116.

Over four months Manziel became the most celebrated Aggies athlete in history.

A&M has said the school expects to net about $250 million based on his earning the university's second Heisman. Running back John David Crow won the first in 1957.

The A&M athletic department had nothing to do with the suspension, another person with knowledge of the situation said.

Spokesmen from the athletic department and the university declined comment on Manziel's short-lived suspension citing federal privacy laws concerning students.

Also Wednesday, an insider helped clear up the murkiness surrounding Manziel's frustrated post on Twitter early Sunday.

The post, which he quickly deleted, stated “(expletive) like tonight is a reason why I can't wait to leave college station ... whenever it may be.”

He quickly deleted the post, but not before it received national attention.

The insider said Manziel's frustrations stemmed from receiving a ticket from College Station police for parking the wrong way in front of his house.

He'd been fishing in Port Aransas on Saturday and was still on the coast when his roommate called to tell him about the citation.

A College Station official said the ticket was written because a driver complained of nearly hitting the parked Mercedes-Benz.

Manziel vented his frustrations via Twitter to about 360,000 followers.

After removing the post, he followed up with, “Don't ever forget that I love A&M with all of my heart, but please please walk a day in my shoes.”

Brent Zwerneman is a staff writer for the Houston Chronicle and chron.com covering Texas A&M athletics. He is a graduate of Oak Ridge High School and Sam Houston State University, where he played baseball.

Brent is the author of four published books about Texas A&M, three related to A&M athletics. He’s a four-time winner of APSE National Top 10 writing awards for the San Antonio Express-News, including a second-place finish for breaking the Dennis Franchione “secret newsletter” scandal in 2007.

His coverage of Texas A&M’s move to the SEC from the Big 12 also netted a third-place finish nationally in 2012. Brent met his wife, KBTX-TV news anchor Crystal Galny, in the Dixie Chicken before an A&M-Texas Tech football game in 2002, and the couple has three children: Will, Zoe and Brady.